The Three Button Preludes
by EvilPieIsGood
Summary: I've been having some trouble writing the sequel to "A Three Button Problem", so I decided to write a prequel XD. (In which the Sherlock characters are Portalized). Mycroft the assistant, Sherlock the test-subject, Lestrade the scientist, and John the cube
1. Mycroft

A/N: So, this is kinda a prequel to "A Three Button Problem" that I wrote because I'm having trouble with a sequel to the 3 button problem. XD

This is tentatively done, with 4 chapters, but depending on the reaction, I'll probably write at least two more parts

* * *

Mycroft is recruited out of high school for aperture by his American girlfriend, Anthea, and he accepts right away. The Holmes encouraged him to take Anthea up on her offer, knowing that Mycroft was never suited for college and he would be more successful exploring the states. He left for the states immediately, and took up position as Anthea's Personal Assistant.

For the first while, his letters got through to his family, talking of the amazing innovations Aperture was doing, the science, and Anthea. But soon they stopped, worrying his parents (Mycroft just thought that the postal service in the states was shit and carried on with his job).

He'd admired Anthea, loved her even, but he never knew the lengths she'd go to protect her company, to remain in control, eventually taking all of Mycroft's letters, preventing them from being sent or received.

Mycroft was completely cut off from the world.

Even though Anthea had taken him on to be her assistant, he found himself playing tour guide, head of the PR department, safety consultant, and occasionally scientist. He didn't mind though, finding each task interesting and important in promoting aperture and science.

Mycroft stuck with Anthea through everything, even the missing astronauts, and after her death was convinced to take her position as CEO.

Unknown to him, her 'Lab Boys' were trying to honour her last request, and six months later, before he'd even had a chance to mail his first letter in years to his family after taking over aperture, Mycroft was phased out of the company and JiM was introduced.


	2. Sherlock

Sherlock grows up hearing stories about a brother he'd never know. About how he was taken away by a company, how he stopped replying to letters, how he never called. They still got checks with half his paycheck each month, still deposit them, but they need to know what happened to him.

They prepare Sherlock, train him to go work for the company that already stole one son, so he can find out what happened to his brother. They don't know that they will lose another one.

When Sherlock finishes college he skips the graduation ceremony, and heads right to the states. Unfortunately for him, Aperture already has all the scientists they need at their head office, where Mycroft should be, so Sherlock registers as a test subject.

(He is suspicious of the lack of authority at Aperture, wondering why the CEO seat was empty when he went by the offices, but paid it no attention. He would regret that.)

He does the necessary testing, aces the written and logic tests but is abysmal at the highly physical stuff (He was not built for the physical stuff, thinking of his body as a container for his mind), and is told to wait for a reply.

He doesn't wait long.

It starts out simple enough, testing the long-fall boots (it took him some time before he got used to the free-falling though), and he is doing that test when everything goes wrong.

Sherlock's just finished a jump when the entire facility shudders, and his supervising scientist, a twitchy man named Lestrade, hustles him out of the room, and, surprisingly, away from the test subject living quarters.

He barely has time to object when Lestrade shoves him into what Lestrade calls a 'relaxation pod', and he falls onto the bed, the clear glass room filling with some kind of gas.

Through drugged eyes he sees Lestrade running off, equipping some kind of mask as other workers collapse to the ground.

The last thing Sherlock thinks, before the sleep and before his memory begins to disintegrate, is that he never managed to find the brother he'd heard some much about.

Sherlock sleeps.

JiM readies the tests.


	3. Lestrade

Lestrade knew, knew from the beginning, from when JiM was first fired up, that people were going to die, that JiM was not what they wanted. He tried, once, to report it, to say anything to his supervisor, but he was given some anti-psychotics and told to get back to work.

He knew that JiM was going to be the end of aperture as he knew it, and began to prepare.

In the dead of night, when JiM would speak mockingly in Lestrade's head, he stored food and water behind the walls, stole gas masks, and found a companion cube.

The companion cube began to tell Lestrade about a test subject, the perfect one, the one would stop JiM. Lestrade looked into the one the cube talked about, and saw that the man's application was slated for the rejection pile. He stepped in though, altering the results and Lestrade selected that one to assist him in testing the long-fall boots. He made sure to sabotage the tests, giving the test subject the actual boots instead of fake ones, adjusting the gravity in the room, everything he could do to save and preserve the test subject, knowing, somehow, that he was the one who was going to stop JiM.

His companion cube told him that the real boots were important, in the last test, and so when the facility shook, Lestrade knew it was time.

He grabbed the Test Subject by the arm and dragged him over to the Relaxation Pod, shoving him in and sealing it. He then ran, gas mask on his face, to one of his many hideouts, to wait.

The madness had to stop.


	4. John

He remembered pain and sand, people yelling and needles. That was all he remembered of being shot, and all he wanted to remember. It was embarrassing for him to have been shot, because he wasn't even supposed to be there, and he hadn't even been looking to help fight off the attackers.

John woke up.

It was a dark room, and he was lying on a cot. An empty I.V drip bag didn't tell him much, but the healed gunshot wound did. It took him several minutes, but John began to remember. Being shot, going home, a month and a half of therapy, and then nothing, John suddenly feared he'd been captured and drugged.

(Which, as he'd later find out, he had been, in a way.)

(He also feared for his sparse flat. Without him there to pay the rent, his pitiful but treasured belongings would probably be dumped.)

Lights came on, and he could hear an automated voice talking but he ignored it for the most part as he stood to examine where he was. He removed the I.V, discovering that he was wearing a light grey sweater and jeans, definitely not what he'd been wearing in back in London. He poked and prodded at his shoulder, testing himself, trying to see how damaged he was.

Getting off of the cot, John began to investigate the room. It was small, and the most interesting discovery was the round metal plate on the floor and the pile of boxes in one corner. A closer look at the boxes showed that his face was etched on them for some reason, and they glowed slightly pink in the darkness.

John backed away from them, intent on sitting back on the cot, when the plate in the floor opened.

He moved over to in, peering inside, when it sucked him down inside. Disorienting at first, he got used to it, moving throughout the facility he was in (It was larger than he'd expected, deep and dark).

He knew he was approaching an exit because he could hear the mechanical voice again, instructing him, before he was dropped out of the tube, mentally swearing as he hit the ground.

Standing up and looking around, he found himself finally looking at another person and wondering if, maybe, they could get out of there.


End file.
